New Ulm weekly review., 1887-03-30
A Spool of Thread.

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twistings and turnings and the vari
Gus processes that cotton fiber goes
through after it is taken from the pod
before it is wound up ona spool and
ready for the housewives needle. The
whole story is told, however, in a
small space in one of the cases in the
hall in the National museum, given ur
to an exhibition OF textile fabrics.
This is one of the many object lessons
in the museum, which combined, are in.
tended to tell the story OF man
as he exists on the earth. First Is
shown a specimen of cotton in the
pod just as it is picked without
having the seeds removed. Next
is shown a specimen OF the same
cotton after it has been ginned and
the black seeds have been removed.
The Sea Island cotton is used fol
thread on account of the length of the
fiber A sample of the sacking in
which the cotton is baled is also shown.
Then the cotton is supposed to have
been baled and shipped to the thread
factory. Here the first thing that is
done with the cotton is to subject it
to the '.picker" process by which tbs
cotton from several bales is mixed to
secure uniformity. During the picker
process much waste, in the form oi
dust, dirt, and short fbers are sepa.
rated from the good fbers by the pick.
er. Next the "picked" cotton is
wound on a machine. in sheets or laps.
into a roll. The next process illustra-
ted by a practical exhibit is the card.
ing by which the sheets OF cotton are
combed, or run out into long parallel
fbers. The cotton is next seen drawn
through a trumpet shaped opening
which condenses it into asingle strand
Or 'tsliver." Then eight such slivers
are run together into one, six of the
strands thus produced are drawn into
one, and again six of the strands from
the last drawing are combined into
one. Then comes the slubbing or fast
'roving" process, which consists OF
winding the strand and bobbin. Two
strands are twisted and again
wound on a. bobbin. After a
number of twistings and wlndings, du-
ring which the strand isgradually re-.
duced in size, until it begins to assume
a thread-ike appearance, two strands
OF this fine ''roving'' are run together
and twisted under considerable ten.
sion, on a bobin that makes 1000
revolutions a minute. Two of the
cords thus produced are then wound
together on a spool, and then twisted
from that to another spool. The
two-cord thread thus produced is
transferred thence to another spool,
and three threads of two cords each
are twisted together, forming six-cord
thread. One who has followed the
process sees the cotton gradually
transformed from a wide band or
sheet of loose cotton to a compact
thread that will pass through the eye
of q needle. The six-cord thread is
at last taken from a bobbin and reeled
into q skein, in which form it is bleach
ed or dyed. Then it is wound back
from the skein upon big spool, from
which it is supplied to little birch
spools upon which it is wound in reg
ular courses, and is then ready for the
market. The machine that regulates
the last winding measures the number
Of yards wound on each spool. The
spools are made of various sizes to
hold from 200 to 10000 yards OF
thread. The labels that decorate the
end of the spool are last put on. They
ale cut and pasted on by machinery
with great rapidity.